Daring Mars fly-by in limbo after US Congress hearing

Congress has Mars in its eyes. In the wake of a hearing last week, the US House Committee on Science, Space and Technology has asked NASA to consider a crewed fly-by of the Red Planet in 2021. The venture's funding and feasibility remain vague, however, and NASA's 2015 budget plan, released today, maintains that an asteroid will be the first destination for astronauts riding the agency's next-generation space capsule.

The Mars fly-by proposal is built on plans for a privately funded mission laid out by Inspiration Mars, a non-profit endeavour formed by multimillionaire Dennis Tito. Barely a year after Inspiration Mars was announced, Tito went before Congress hat in hand, saying the flight wouldn't be possible without the use of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion space capsule, both still in development. He made the case for a NASA-led fly-by of Mars and Venus in 2021, which he argued would cost less than $1 billion.

Congress seems to be taking the idea seriously. On 27 February, an independent panel testified on what it would take to make the mission a reality. The response was mostly positive, but some committee members raised concerns about the tight timeline and uncertain budget.

"While I thought it was a great idea if people wanted to take the risk in the private sector, I think this is a foolhardy use of very limited government resources," said California Republican Dana Rohrabacher. And based on the timeline for building SLS and Orion, a 2021 Mars mission would be the first crewed flight for both vehicles, which would mean skipping a piloted test flight closer to home.

For now the official NASA plan does involve going to Mars, but not straight out of the gate. The fiscal year 2015 budget provides a total of $133 million for developing a mission to lasso an asteroid and bring it into low Earth orbit. The first crewed flight for SLS and Orion would be in 2021 or 2022 as part of this mission, which the agency sees as a step towards a human mission to Mars in the 2030s.

"This budget funds all elements of that stepping-stone approach, and increases funding for space technology efforts that will support the first crewed flight of SLS to an asteroid," Bolden said during a teleconference about the budget on 4 March. "The Space Launch System is critical to deep-space exploration, and we all agree that it is the primary vehicle for humans going to Mars."

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